Noelia Cruz -
Ceremonies
Ceremonies
is a composition dedicated to Bodéwadmi Astronomy, the ancestors of these sacred lands, and the relatives who cultivate these star-land connections across generations through the beauty of ceremony, art, storytelling and knowledge keeping.Exploration Institute STEAM Residency
Eighth Blackbird & Yerkes Observatory
June 2025
Kishwauketoe, Wishkosnak
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Eighth Blackbird & Yerkes Observatory
June 2025
Kishwauketoe, Wishkosnak
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Sacred (for piano and violigüiro/güajey)
“All our fathers once loved to gaze upon was destroyed,
defaced or marred, except the sun, moon and starry skies above, which the Great Spirit in his wisdom hung beyond their reach.” — Chief Simon Pokagon
The score opens with a quote from the Red Man's Greeting, book and speech that Potawatomi Chief Simon Pokagon gave at the Columbian World Fair in 1893. With this book, Pokagon not only crafted a powerful work of advocacy, representation, and tribal solidarity, but—by printing it on birch bark—he also
created the first North American artist’s book.
A piano solo opens the score as a ceremony of remembrance. In beat patterns of 7, it acknowledges the spiritual significance of the 7 sacred pools, natural springs, and the birth of the water that feeds it. This opens space and is a moment in time to recognize that, amongst all the things lost, we, like the stars, are here as witnesses of the way our stories are memorialized.
These chords ask us to substitute historical disclaimers and messages that distance ourselves from those we consider as ‘others’; so that we instead may offer empathy, presence, and dignified remembrance to the ancestors. Even if just for a moment, this offers us an opportunity to consider that we can relate to the stars and to the relatives of the land before us. We too could be relatives and offer messages to our relatives' loved ones, humanizing their memory and opening new paths
of remembrance.
‘He Watches Over Us’ The Trail of Wolf - (for violigüiro, stomp, piano and copper ammunition beads)
This part begins in remembrance of the Trail of Death. The forced stomps of displacement shift into pulses of resistance and presence.
The violin that was filled with copper ammunition, shifts into a shaker filled clay beads from Potawatomi land. Arms swing freely through the air. The rhythm becomes an assertion and celebration of survival. We arrive at a Pow-Wow where a young girl dances, skipping joyfully across the ground, her steps filled with pride and the memory of those who came before her.
This is a memorial that honors the persistence of spirit. It honors what happens when memory becomes dance, when grief is not erased but transformed. It is a reclaiming. It is a song for all who survived and all who are still dancing. Ultimately fading into the sound of the Wolf, who continues to watch over us, the land and our connections to the stars.
Mo’ëwé (for unrepatriated flute, violi-maraca (shaker) with wabgen (clay) beads.)
Bmejwen, Kyle Malott (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), is a specialist of Bodéwadmi language, history, and astronomy, and the graphic designer of the Potawatomi Star Map Nengosêk ė zhë nabmayak – the way that we look at stars. In knowledge, kindness and collaboration for this project Bmejwen taught me that the paw prints around the constellation map are: “the Gray Wolf, circling in the sky. He watches over us.” Those words, coming from the great grandson of Mr. Frank Hamilton, translator of Chief Mo’ëwe (Gray Wolf), felt powerful. Mr. Hamilton wore a regalia of embroidered shooting stars to accompany Chief Pokagon and Chief Mo’ëwé to the Columbian World Fair in this historical act of presence, advocacy and tribal solidarity.
The wood flute represents Mo’ëwe as an infinite, protective guardian, resilient, eternally signaling presence; a symbol of the sun. The sounds played are transcriptions of howls of Gray Wolves in the forest. The Potawatomi clay beads inside the violin-shaker were sculpted by Mnogishek, Jason Wesaw (Turtle Clan Pokagon Band of Potawatomi). These wabgen (clay) beads are an offering and summoning from the land that mirrors its stars. Mo’ëwé is a Bodéwadmi (Potawatomi) constellation that comes with the winter sky.
This part is dedicated to Simon Pokagon’s voice. Spiritual messages are voiced through the Taino Boriken ‘Inriri’ woodpecker and the Potawatomi Great Lakes ‘Wesawange’ woodpecker. The bird's patterns of territorial defense represent the sovereign stance of Chief Pokagon echoing through the earth’s heartbeat, birchbark sticks, and the stars.
Like the maple tree, we tap into substance as we stand
grounded. The tree gives us the beat of the land, an homage to the area where this piece was composed, which in Potawatomi meant “the place where maple sugar is made.”
(for flute, cello, tenor recorder, mbira, violimayohabao, birch
sticks, bass voice)
Our final constellation is a cross-generational conversation between the ceremonial grounds of the Potawatomi’s Seven Sacred Pools and those who manage the land today. Inspired by a scoring system evaluating the operations and facilities of Big Foot Country Club, each numbered score translates to a
rhythmic counterpoint sounded by two violins, flute and cello.
As the ethos of this work fuses ancestral rituals and modern practices, the violins have been transformed into mayohabao, a ceremonial wooden aerophone used in Taino areyto spiritual ceremonies.
The spirit of this ritual challenges the notion of measuring the value of invaluable land, as the mayohabao and its birch sticks charge how they were used in ceremony, as a portal from land to stars.
Amidst all superimposed elements on these grounds
represented with counterpoint and dissonance, the steady beat is guided by the rhythm of Pow Wow, looking for moments to assert with sounds the significance of sacred meaning and inheritance.
Stationed in four copies of the same bronze sculpture placed across Lake Geneva, Big Foot, Chief of this land for 30 years is portrayed as a figure frozen in time memorialized by taking a last glance at his home before displacement.
Remorializing Big Foot from the stars as an eternal glance and celestial power is our final gesture. Summoning the wintertime return of Big Foot each winter, glancing at his home and beloved Lake from the sky, standing in power, wearing his belt of stars, the same belt of stars in his constellation (Orion) carried by Frank Hamilton, when he stood at the 1893 Fair.
As the Big Foot constellation rises in the sky, he stands with mo’ëwé, both empowering and mighty figures that remind us of our great stories and the great ancestors of the Great Lakes.
Textual Counterpoint
Throughout “Keeping Score,” ceremonial repetitions of lyrical fragments weave their way into the soundscape. These are collaged from pop wedding songs sourced from YouTube videos filmed at Big Foot Country Club. Juxtaposed lyrics originally meant for wedding ceremonies that take place on ceremonial land are recontextualized to reflect on the historical narrative of sacred ceremonies that preceded them. These excerpts are used for the purpose of cultural criticism, commentary, and artistic transformation and are protected under the Fair Use Act.
We owned the night
When we owned the night, yeah we owned the night
A shot in the dark
Take you over
When everything is out
You can’t fight
We’ve all got stories
Heart beat for a thousand miles
Time stands still
Hopelessly
For a thousand years
I can’t jump where I belong
I will be brave
What’s there to complain about
Take away what’s standing in front of me
Takes away all
the night like a thief
I have died every day
for a thousand years
It feels so hard to breathe
Remember how the stars stole the night away?
I’m returning from so far
Throughout “Keeping Score,” ceremonial repetitions of lyrical fragments weave their way into the soundscape. These are collaged from pop wedding songs sourced from YouTube videos filmed at Big Foot Country Club. Juxtaposed lyrics originally meant for wedding ceremonies that take place on ceremonial land are recontextualized to reflect on the historical narrative of sacred ceremonies that preceded them. These excerpts are used for the purpose of cultural criticism, commentary, and artistic transformation and are protected under the Fair Use Act.
We owned the night
When we owned the night, yeah we owned the night
A shot in the dark
Take you over
When everything is out
You can’t fight
We’ve all got stories
Heart beat for a thousand miles
Time stands still
Hopelessly
For a thousand years
I can’t jump where I belong
I will be brave
What’s there to complain about
Take away what’s standing in front of me
Takes away all
the night like a thief
I have died every day
for a thousand years
It feels so hard to breathe
Remember how the stars stole the night away?
I’m returning from so far
Program Directors:
Amanda Bauer Deputy Director of Astronomy and Education Yerkes Observatory
Eighth Blackbird
Collaborators:
Bmejwen, Kyle Malott (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi)
Mnogishek, Jason Wesaw. Turtle Clan (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi)
Luis Sahagun (Nahuatl Descendant, Anahuac (México)
Elizabeth Leon (Taíno Descendant, Boriken)
Ensemble:
Noelia Cruz (Taíno Descedant, Boriken),
Composer, Creative Director, Artist in Residence
violin-mayohabao, violin-maraca, violigüiro.
Ethan Cowburn percussion arrangements and program notes collaborator
violin-mayohabao, violin-maraca (shaker), mbira.
Garrett Obrycki Residency Creative Director , program notes collaborator
Piano, Bass Voice
Lina Andonovska Faculty, 8BB member
Flute, violin-shaker
Aaron Wolff Faculty, program notes collaborator, 8BB member
Cello
Zachary Good
8BB member, program notes collaborator
Tenor recorder
Amanda Bauer Deputy Director of Astronomy and Education Yerkes Observatory
Eighth Blackbird
Collaborators:
Bmejwen, Kyle Malott (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi)
Mnogishek, Jason Wesaw. Turtle Clan (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi)
Luis Sahagun (Nahuatl Descendant, Anahuac (México)
Elizabeth Leon (Taíno Descendant, Boriken)
Ensemble:
Noelia Cruz (Taíno Descedant, Boriken),
Composer, Creative Director, Artist in Residence
violin-mayohabao, violin-maraca, violigüiro.
Ethan Cowburn percussion arrangements and program notes collaborator
violin-mayohabao, violin-maraca (shaker), mbira.
Garrett Obrycki Residency Creative Director , program notes collaborator
Piano, Bass Voice
Lina Andonovska Faculty, 8BB member
Flute, violin-shaker
Aaron Wolff Faculty, program notes collaborator, 8BB member
Cello
Zachary Good
8BB member, program notes collaborator
Tenor recorder